Chapter 4

Lawrence was sitting behind his desk with his phone still in his hand. Bethany must have already texted him.

"If a senior employee assigns you tasks, she has her reasons. You're the new hire here. What's wrong with doing a little extra? You can't even handle that?"

"It's not that I can't handle it. I just don't want to be singled out and pushed around for no good reason."

The words had barely left my mouth when a loud bang made me jump. Lawrence and Bethany really were related. The way he slammed his hands on the desk and shot to his feet was practically identical.

"What are you implying? That Bethany is deliberately giving you a hard time over a drumstick? You're far too petty for your own good. I'm starting to seriously reconsider whether you're even a good fit for this company."

I hadn't expected him to threaten me with my probation. I let out a resigned sigh.

"Mr. Niles, the company already has a cleaning crew. There's really no need to assign someone else to do the same work. On top of that, I still have the data compilation and the quarterly report to finish."

"If you can't finish your work, that's your own problem!" Lawrence cut me off with undisguised impatience.

"You know full well how heavy your workload is, and yet you still have time to come in here and complain about your coworkers? I'm warning you, headquarters is sending someone to sit in on the quarterly presentation this week.

"If you screw that up, you can forget about passing your probation. I'll have you out that door myself."

I bit down on my frustration and said nothing, walking back to my desk with my head down.

Bethany was sitting with her feet up, snacking on pistachios. The miserable look on my face made her day. "Aww, what's with the long face? Let me guess. Tattling on me didn't go so well, did it?"

"Don't go over there, Shelby. She's just on a power trip. Ignore her." Penny was worried I'd confront her again and pulled me back to my desk, keeping her voice low.

I gave her a grateful nod, though I hadn't been planning to engage with Bethany anyway. My time was better spent focusing on work.

According to Lawrence, the presentation was the day after tomorrow, which meant I had to have everything ready by tomorrow. Coming in early and staying late worked out perfectly for getting it done.

The only problem was that cleaning up the pistachio shells Bethany had been scattering everywhere for the past two days ate into a significant chunk of my time. In her eyes, my willingness to clean was proof that I'd caved to her authority.

"See? Now you get it. You're way out of your league trying to go up against me."

I didn't look up from my screen. Only after I'd finished revising the report based on my supervisor's notes did I finally shift my gaze toward her.

"You might have the wrong idea, Bethany. I clean around your desk because I'm a neat freak, and I physically can't stand looking at someone's workspace when it's that filthy. I'd really suggest you pay a little more attention to your personal hygiene, because this office doesn't belong to just you."

I shut down my computer, grabbed my bag, and walked out, ignoring Bethany's shrieking and cursing behind me. My work was done, so why would I stick around a second longer?

The next morning, the second I opened my computer, my stomach dropped. The folder that had contained all my reports was completely empty.

Penny noticed me freezing and asked with concern, "What's wrong, Shelby? Are you feeling okay?"

"My reports are all…"

Before I could finish, Lawrence's voice drifted in from outside the office door. "We were all wondering which executive would be visiting today. We certainly didn't expect the chairman himself to come all this way."

As if she'd been waiting for this exact moment, Bethany put on an exaggerated look of shock the second they pushed the door open. "Shelby! Don't tell me you lost the quarterly report! Oh my God, how could you make a mistake like that?"

Her shrill voice rang through the entire office, and every single pair of eyes turned toward me. Lawrence, who had just walked in, widened his eyes and stormed over to me.

"Shelby! Is what Bethany's saying true? Are you trying to get me fired? Pack your things and get out!"

I tried to explain, but Bethany cut in before I could get a word out. "Save it! Some people love putting on a show, staying late at the office every day pretending to work. And what's the result? You can't even produce a single report! Did you lose it, or did you never do it in the first place?"

It was technically a question, but she didn't give me any time to answer. Instead, she pulled a flash drive out of her pocket.

"Lucky for everyone, I saw this coming a mile away and prepared the presentation myself! Sir, it hasn't been easy doing this while pregnant, but I take my work very seriously. I promise today's presentation won't disappoint you."

Bethany rubbed her belly with an exaggerated gesture, clearly trying to play up how much effort and sacrifice she'd put in. But the man at the door didn't even glance at her. Instead, he turned toward me with an amused half-smile.

"Ms. Maddox, is any of what she's saying true?"